The swearing-in of Maplewood Mayor Barry Greenberg was a piece of cake, and a cup of lemonade.
After presenting outgoing Mayor Nikylan Knapper with a resolution lauding her three-year term in the suburb鈥檚 top post, the city council took a break for refreshments in the lobby and then handed the meeting gavel to Greenberg.
Greenberg聽was elected mayor in 2017, after serving on the council for 14 years. But in 2021, he lost to Knapper, Maplewood鈥檚 first African American mayor.
But after Knapper鈥檚 one three-year term, punctuated by political contention and complaints of cronyism, Greenberg mounted a write-in campaign and easily ousted Knapper.
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Greenberg picked up 63% of the vote and had a winning margin of 419 tallies out of 1,671 cast.
One of Greenberg鈥檚 first actions as mayor involved employing a change Knapper had orchestrated during her tenure 鈥斅燼llowing a mayor to pull an item from the agenda.聽
Greenberg said he removed a proposal that would have revamped the bidding process for awarding city contracts.
He said the bill could negatively affect work city employees would be allowed to do, and also could hurt local businesses by requiring union labor to be used on any project more than $10,000. 鈥淭hat amount is too low,鈥 he said.
鈥淚鈥檓 not necessarily opposed to鈥 the measure, Greenberg said. 鈥淚 just want to revisit it.鈥
The item can be returned to the agenda if the council votes to overrule the mayor, but it made no such move on Tuesday.
As to working with the six-member council that often followed Knapper鈥檚 lead 鈥 except for Chasity Maddox, who recently offered lone opposition at times 鈥 next year鈥檚 municipal election could alter the landscape.
And the three members whose terms expire next year each offered a different response when asked about seeking reelection: Nick Homa, 鈥減robably鈥; Eric Page, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know鈥; and Matt Coriell, 鈥淭his is my official no comment.鈥